Not applicable.
It is well known that many fires are caused by failures in electrical wiring. Frequently, faulty wiring will generate heat long before the ignition temperature of the surrounding structure is reached. Circuit breakers do not prevent a fire in this situation because the current flowing through the fault is not great enough to trip a standard breaker.
Furthermore, conventional fire detection systems are also inadequate because they only detect the byproducts of combustion, such as smoke and intense heat. The localized heat rise in failing wiring typically goes undetected until after a fire has started.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a system capable of detecting heat rises due to faulty wiring before a fire actually breaks out. The system described herein accomplishes this result by detecting such heat increases, pinpointing the locations, providing an alarm, and providing means to extinguish any fire that does occur.
The system provides signals that indicate a potential fire situation. The signals concerned are derived from the standard electrical system in a house or establishment, the signals being developed by shorts or electrical malfunctions, that would produce heat, and possibly a fire.
The system is designed for use in individual locations, such as residences or business establishments.
The main concept of the invention is to detect signals in the individual locations and send them to a central location such as a fire station.
The system provides the identity of the residence, such as the name of the owner, and the address. It also shows the location of the danger point within the residence. These signals are transmitted to the fire station where they are displayed, giving the identifying data referred to above. These signals are also displayed on a display panel within each residence, for the advantage of the occupant.
The system is well adapted for retro-fitting to an existing electrical system in the residence.
Another great advantage is that the apparatus is extremely simple, both in the elements and components making up the system, and the installation thereof. This last advantage includes the fact that the connection between the individual location or residence, and the fire station, consists of only a single telephone line, with only the usual operating appurtenances.
The system is controlled by a microprocessor located in a base unit. An L.C.D. panel located on the base unit enables the user to locate the malfunctioning box. A random access memory stores all data. As an alternative to having each sensor hardwired to the central location, a thermistor or group of thermistors may be connected to a transmitter. The transmitter communicates with the base station using UHF radio signals. The radio datalink allows the unit to perform at long ranges.
Digital and line filters enhance the performance of the radio line. Using a Digital to Analog converter adds speed and accuracy to each bit of data. When the data is displayed on the L.C.D. screen, it shows the malfunctioning box in two dimensions.
An extinguisher unit has the capacity to extinguish any fire that starts within a room in a 360xc2x0 radius with 12 V solenoids to open and close a hatch door that opens when there""s a large source of heat directly under the head or the center of a room. The nozzle is guided toward the heat source through a series of thermistors mounted 4xe2x80x3 above the floor on the base board of the room and one or more thermistors on the head of the unit in a circular array.
The 12 V.D.C. motor enables the head via the nozzle to directly turn toward the heat source. Solenoids that are located directly above each 0.25xe2x80x3 pipe line open and close a butterfly regulator where the chemical passes through. The chemical used is A, B or C for the purpose of extinguishing wood, textiles and paper rubbish (A), Burning Liquids (B) and Electrical Fires (C), respectively.
The extinguisher tanks are mounted in the basement or equipment room or engineers maintenance room. A distribution box is connected directly to the tanks and copper lines are run from the box to the extinguisher heads. The two tanks are 240 psi @ 39 lbs. per tank with an 80 ft. range from the tanks to the remote head.
In addition to fire detection and extinguishment, the system activates emergency lighting and has a voice synthesizer to vocalize all data that""s stored in memory, including room, junction or switch box location, e.g., xe2x80x9cN.W. wallxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cliving room fire on east wall.xe2x80x9d The location detection is provided by thermistor panels mounted along the baseboards (each sensor is 1xe2x80x3xc3x972xe2x80x3 and is glued to a 1xc2xc W xc3x9712xe2x80x3 L strip of plastic for mounting on the base board).
The extinguisher system is powered by a 120 VAC source with four outputs xc2x124 V, xc2x115 V, xc2x112 V, 5 V. The unit can operate as an individual unit. The short circuit and excess junction box heat alarms can operate with the base unit. The extinguisher can operate as a stand alone unit with a parallel port that""used for a L.C.D. monitor that shows the room location of the fire in the establishment. When used together the total system is capable of sensing excess heat in the electrical line and extinguishing fires within an establishment.
These and other advantages and novel features of the present invention, as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof, will be more fully understood from the following description and drawings.